1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to the field of service modules. More specifically, this invention relates to a data and prediction driven methodology for facilitating customer interaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a customer desires to purchase a good or service, there are a variety of interaction channels for receiving the customer's order that are along a spectrum of human-guided interactions. On one end of the spectrum, a customer can order goods or services from a human over the telephone. The other end of the spectrum includes completely automated services such as a website for receiving customer orders. Along this spectrum are mixed human and automatic interactions. For example, a customer can place an order on a website while chatting with a human over the Internet. In addition, the user can email a human with order information and the human inputs the order into an automated system.
The type of interaction is a function of customer preference, the cost of servicing the customer, and the lifetime value of the customer to the company. For example, the cost of providing a human to receive orders is more expensive than self-service over a website, but if the customer would not otherwise purchase the good or service, the company still profits.
The cost of interacting with customers could be reduced if there were a way to categorize and thus predict customer behavior. For example, the process would be more efficient if there were a way to predict that a particular customer is difficult and, as a result, assign the customer to an agent with experience at diffusing an irate customer, which would result in a happier customer and a shorter interaction time.